Okay, so via the Japan Forum I shared problems, plural, we had with JR (specifically East but also Central, in Takayama-shi, Gifu-ken) refusing to give my son IN A WHEELCHAIR a wheelchair seat on the shinkansen. I was told: he’s not really in a wheelchair because he’s a (12 year-old) child (? didn’t realize disabilities only affect adults … thank you, JR workers, for alerting me to the lie our family has been living all these years) and that wheelchair seats are only for Japanese people, which is ridiculous on so many levels, including that my child’s father is freaking Japanese so guess what? Give him the goddamn seat.

Anyway, I live in the US so contacted JR East’s North American office (I could not find a North America office for any of the other JR divisions), where I was given more cock and bull. Like:
-I should have quickly flown to Japan to activate our JR passes *before our actual trip* (?) because JR East recommends, for foreigners, reserving wheelchair seats at least two weeks in advance. Including on the Narita Express, which begs the question: what if your plane is late? What if it takes you a while to a) get your luggage, b) get through customs, c) get money changed, d) pick up the pocket wifi, e) get a station guide to come over with the portable ramp? And oh yeah, what about paying for another round-trip ticket to Japan and paying even more for a JR Pass (for a longer duration Pass — why on earth would anyone with a functioning brain cell activate their Pass before they are going to use it?).
-I should have applied to the Japanese government for the Disabled License for my child … even though he is American, and we do not live and will not live in Japan. Oh, and by the way, where does it recommend this anywhere on any Japanese travel site or any Japan Rail Pass online store? NOWHERE.
-I, the foreign traveler, should have educated the JR staff in the JR Reservation offices about their job and JR policies. Uh … how would I have access to those policies? Why wouldn’t people who work for JR East know those policies? Why is everything incumbent on the traveler? When will JR East accept responsibility for their mess-ups? Evidently not any time soon!

The conversation I had left me thoroughly pissed off. Although, evidently global warming is also my fault, according to JR East’s North American office (they didn’t actually say that, but since everything else is my fault, including their staff not understanding that an American pediatric wheelchair is still a goddamn WHEELCHAIR around the world, it seems fair to assume they will lay blame for any- and everything at my innocent feet).

As I did write elsewhere and as I told the disinterested staff at JR East North America, the conductor on the train from Takayama-shi to Nagoya was awesome, as was the Reservations office in Hiroshima station — fantastic. Of course he didn’t care — those aren’t JR East, and I had zippo compliments about JR East.

Thank you for letting me vent. Sorry if this is too angry — typing this out stream of consciousness style and I am just letting it all go! Time for a chocolate bar. Stat.